Center for Sustainability

Faces of Sustainability

Lucy Daberkow

Associate Administrative Director, Sturm College of Law

Lucy Daberkow, Associate Administrative Director at the Sturm College of Law, volunteers as the Sustainability Coordinator for Peabody Elementary in the Littleton Public School District. Since creating the position in 2012, Lucy has implemented several initiatives to make her daughters' school more environmentally conscious. Through a partnership with TerraCycle, one of the world's leaders in the collection and reuse of non-recyclable waste, Peabody Elementary has recycled over 10,000 juice pouches, more than 20,000 energy bar wrappers, as well as school supplies and personal care items. In addition, Lucy has implemented a program to promote healthy snacks during school celebrations and reduce trash production with initiatives like "Hallogreen." She is currently working with other like-minded parents in the district to reduce waste in school cafeterias and promote healthier, meat-free lunch alternatives. Her next project is introducing a sustainability component to the school's curriculum.

Christa Bruning, Marketing Programs Manager

Tear It Out!

How many of you have notebooks with a few pieces of paper remaining, or scratch paper that you aren't sure what to do with? Well, Tear It Out! That's exactly what DU students did last May contributing over 300 pounds of paper to local schools in need. Donation boxes were placed in five residence halls and students had the option to drop in their entire notebook, tear out the blank sheets or leave only the blank pages remaining in the notebook. The total amount of paper collected equates to approximately 568 notebooks (70 sheets) or 39,760 sheets of paper. The average cost for a 70-sheet spiral notebook is $1.75 bringing the total donation value to $994.00. Pretty impressive for the first year!

So how did this initiative come to life? One day Christa Bruning's daughter asked her for paper, she had run out of paper in her notebook, and as Christa searched for paper, she came across her partially used notebook stash. For her capstone project, she created Tear It Out! and filed as a business with the state of Colorado in May 2013. Long-term goals include working towards a non-profit status and Tear It Out! becoming a state-wide initiative.

The bike for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge for Steamboat Springs won best in show and is now in the permanent art collection at Denver International Airport. The Steamboat Springs bike by Kristin Stransky and Audrey Seiler examines the different states of water as they relate to the natural draws of Steamboat Springs. The hot springs, the name of steamboat, Fish Creek Falls, the Yampa River and of course, champagne powder snow at Steamboat Ski Resort. It also plays with the natural meeting the man-made through digital production methods and the mechanical nature of the bike. It is 3D printed and CNC milled with electronics.

Nelson Villegas

Assistant Foreman/Senior/Custodial Department

Nelson assists with the collection and diversion of waste during home hockey games. Nelson has been a vital part of the effort. When the zero waste pilot began last fall Nelson helped the Zero Waste Team understand the practices and operations in the Ritchie Center. DU's custodial department is not only committed to providing a clean and welcoming environment, but also to serve and work as a team with different departments in order to achieve common goals. Nelson got involved in Zero Waste hockey games not only because his job position required it, but because he knows it will eventually change lives by raising awareness on the importance of maintaining an ecological balance, not only across students sharing the DU campus but among the community as well. Nelson finds this program succeeds through team work – in order to make it easy for everyone to follow, commitment – not only with other staff members but also within ourselves in order to achieve common goals, which is changing our behavior in relation to waste practices to achieve a 90% diversion rate, and leadership – towards a better environment. As a result of the efforts of Nelson and all the Zero Waste Team, diversion rates of waste going to recycling and compost instead of the landfill are greatly increased this year. He cherishes the effort from each person involved in this effort, and invites everyone to be a part of this amazing program.